Chapter 609: The Wedding House
Sasuke's strength was astonishing. He quickly proceeded to slay Hōichi, the ninja monk from the Land of Wind.
Hōichi had transformed from a relatively refined monk into a monster wearing a golden mask, his upper body bound tightly by biwa strings, with a single large eye growing from his abdomen.
There was nothing to say. Activate Susanoo. Cut him down.
As for sealing? Sasuke didn't even consider it. This bunch of trash wasn't worth the effort to seal.
More and more of these mutated monsters appeared.
After a full day of fighting, the vanguard unit rested at an outpost in Kusagakure.
A dozen Kusa ninja were found cowering in a basement by Konoha forces.
"Don't kill me!"
"Don't kill me, don't eat me! I was wrong, Lord Kazuma... My lord... killing Konoha ninja?"
The dozen ninja were incoherent, clearly insane.
After a few questions, they couldn't get any information.
Just as Sasuke was about to have the madmen taken away, one of the middle-aged ninja suddenly attacked.
"Kill! Kill the Konoha ninja!" He pulled out a kunai and stabbed viciously at Sakura's heart.
Sakura was no weakling. With a quick shift of her feet, she gracefully dodged the kunai and countered with a punch.
The middle-aged ninja didn't even seem to see it. He was sent flying, countless bones broken, but he still scrambled on all fours, like a zombie, trying to crawl over and take a bite out of Sakura.
The remaining Kusa ninja's eyes turned crimson. They ignored the kunai and jutsus from the Konoha ninja, letting out guttural, animalistic roars. With no formation, they charged straight ahead, like absolute madmen.
This was definitely not how normal ninja fought. In the first clash, one Konoha ninja was severely wounded, and three were lightly injured.
"Everyone, fall back!" Sasuke formed a seal with one hand.
"Fire Release: Phoenix Sage Fire Technique!" A dense volley of fireballs, under his precise chakra control, avoided his own ninja and struck the attackers.
The group, clearly Kusa ninja based on their headbands, burned quickly and were soon reduced to piles of charcoal. Besides the smell of burnt flesh, there was an indescribable stench. The Konoha ninja looked at each other, confused. They all had plenty of battlefield experience... why did that smell so much like rotting corpses? These guys were clearly alive just moments ago; they couldn't have decomposed that fast, right?
"...Retreat to the previous campsite. Collect some of the remains and compile a report of what we've encountered for Lady Tsunade," Sasuke ordered decisively.
Ninja weren't knights; they didn't do orderly charges. Charging headfirst when the enemy was clearly wrong? That was a fool's move, not a ninja's.
Soon, Tsunade, who was still on her way, sent a message back to Sasuke. Akatsuchi, the Jonin leading the Iwa contingent—that 2-meter tall, 300-plus-pound behemoth—had also been attacked. A horde of Kusa ninja, armed with kunai and explosive tags, had charged him like madmen, catching the big guy completely off guard.
As the commander-in-chief of the allied forces, Tsunade ordered all contingents to regroup with her. She wanted to study the chakra composition of the remains and figure out why these ninja, who were essentially dead, could still run, jump, and fight.
The armies of the five great villages were halted at the border. Inside Kusagakure, it had become a true hell.
"Die! You blasphemous bastard!" Hidan's scythe cut down a crazed samurai.
The opponent's chakra was black. His eyelids, mouth, and skin were packed with a thick layer of mud, as if this mud had replaced his muscles.
Groups of these people would gather, madly eating handfuls of dirt, all while screaming about destroying Konoha and killing Yamanaka Ino.
This level of fanaticism was a bit much, even for Hidan, a cultist himself.
For a moment, it was hard to tell who the real cultist was.
He and Kakuzu had been hired as mercenaries. They shouted "Down with Yamanaka Ino" a few times and then went about their own business.
"Hey! Are you done yet?" Hidan shouted impatiently.
Kakuzu replied casually, "Almost."
The two were still wearing their Akatsuki robes.
It wasn't out of loyalty to the organization, but habit. Although they hadn't formed any earth-shattering bond, they were mutually satisfied with their partnership. What more was there to say? They just kept working together.
Kakuzu was busy ransacking Kusagakure for gold and treasure.
The Box of Ultimate Bliss's first door had revived Kazuma. Now, the second door was open, spewing a thick, black chakra mist that controlled the minds of the samurai, ninja monks, and ronin, causing their grotesque transformations. Kakuzu and Hidan consciously avoided the box and focused on their own work.
"Quick, get a bag!" Kakuzu was like a diligent mover, constantly hauling out coins, gold, and jewels. Hidan stood guard. It had to be said, they worked together quite well.
If anyone noticed the anomaly and came to investigate, Hidan would cut them down with his scythe.
"This elder's house is empty! Let's go, on to the next one!" Kakuzu's voice was excited as he strode forward. Hidan shouldered his scythe, looking like he was on a casual stroll, and lazily followed behind.
With the main army deployed, Ino was back in the village, living his life.
If you want to get married, you naturally need a home.
The Yamanaka clan had always been in charge of intelligence. As its leader, being low-key was a necessity.
The Nara clan had medicinal herb farms, mountains, rivers, and countless acres of land. The Akimichi clan had so many members, yet they hadn't eaten themselves into poverty, which just showed how rich their family's assets were. The Yamanaka clan, on the surface, seemed to only have a flower shop, appearing poorer than Sakura. Was that possible? Of course not.
The clan was just traditionally low-key.
Ino didn't want to be high-profile either, and Hinata felt the same way. It was fine to just live their lives quietly; there was no harm in being low-key.
The Hyuga clan hadn't yet figured out Ino's "plot" and was relatively casual about the marriage.
After looking for a long time, they finally settled on a new home right next to the Ninja Academy, separated by just one wall. Turn left out the door, and you'd be on the same street where Sasuke used to brood and Naruto stood on the embankment.
The new house was a standard two-story building with a private courtyard, in a very quiet environment.
The Ninja Academy was thrilled that Ino was setting up his home there.
With a master like him watching over, the safety of the school's students was guaranteed.
In this day and age, even if enemy ninja invaded, they generally wouldn't kill children. Everyone had an unspoken agreement that conflicts were kept among ninja; they wouldn't target the seedlings.
But you always had to prepare for the 'what if.' Having a powerful ninja living near the school was definitely a good thing.
Watching Hinata flutter around like a butterfly, decorating their new home, made Ino very happy. But with that happiness came a heavy pressure.
Seeing how the Sage of Six Paths was tormented by those two brothers, Indra and Asura, for thousands of years, Ino knew: being a parent was truly not easy! One moment you worry your children think too much, the next you worry they lack the ability to think at all. It was a contradiction.
Chapter 610: The Three Elements
The three elements of having a child.
Who to have a child with.
When to have a child.
Where to have a child.
Urged on by family, environment, and various internal and external factors, Ino had solved the first problem.
When it came to the second, he was hesitant.
Look at Minato Namikaze. His enemies timed their attack perfectly, striking while his wife was giving birth. The normally calm and wise ninja was thrown into a panic, and his mental state shattered to the point that he chose to die with his wife.
That was a clear precedent!
Forget childbirth; if Hinata were seven or eight months pregnant, and Ino had to open his Susanoo to fight Madara while taking care of her, he would have a breakdown too.
The ideal situation would be to seal Kaguya, kill Isshiki, and then take out Momoshiki and Kinshiki. After all the Ōtsutsuki were dealt with—around the time they were 19—that would be a good, safe time to have children.
However, Ino's own genetic evolution was progressing too quickly. He felt that giving birth two years from now would be even more difficult.
Although it wasn't explicitly stated, the births of Indra and Asura were the result of the Sage of Six Paths catalyzing them with Yin-Yang Release. Their extremely polarized personalities, bloodlines, and abilities were clearly because a normal birth was impossible. He had to use Yin-Yang Release to split them cleanly, or the children couldn't have been born at all.
Ino wasn't at the Sage's level yet, but this was something better done sooner rather than later.
If he really had two daughters who split his powers, ended up incompatible, and devolved into a female Senju and female Uchiha, while he, like the Sage, watched them fight from the afterlife... Ino felt he would die of sadness.
All things considered, having children sooner was better than later.
The final question: where to give birth?
It definitely had to be a safe place.
Was Konoha safe? Pain, who had shouldered the rice, would have something to say about that.
The Shinigami's stomach was safe, but was that a place to give birth?
By the same token, the Underworld was also out.
Ino counted on his fingers and realized he had more friends in the afterlife than in the world of the living.
Send them to Kaguya's core dimension? Even worse.
When Kaguya was unsealed and saw Ino and Hinata... how would they explain that? "Hi, Grandma Kaguya, we're just passing through?"
"Ino, look at this rug. What do you think? I feel like it's a bit big for the baby's room," Hinata called from a distance.
"Coming, coming!" He quickly cleared his thoughts and trotted over to give his opinion.
He looked at it from every angle but couldn't see a problem. "It's fine. You can decide on the house stuff."
At this, Hinata became uncharacteristically firm. "No, you must give an opinion. This is a matter for both of us."
"Alright, it's a bit big for the bedroom... What about that red one, then?"
"Too bright."
"Then... the one with the orange border?"
"I read that that kind of color is bad for a newborn's eyesight."
"...Then you just pick one."
"No. This is a matter for both of us."
Ino: "..."
Hinata was extremely enthusiastic about decorating their new home. She bought bags and bags of things and dragged him home to start setting up.
Ino resisted for a while, feeling that this was really not the time to use a Shadow Clone, so he had no choice but to put on an apron and sleeves and get to work.
He even called Tonton to help, but Hinata gave him a strange look, as if to say, "Am I living with you, or with a pig?"
Ino decisively sold out his helper. "Haha, Tonton, you're so enthusiastic! We're good here, see you later. Oh, on your way out, buy me two blocks of Yōkan. I have to work hard painting the walls today!"
Tonton tilted her head, giving him a look of utter contempt.
Ino and Hinata's intimacy caused only a small, brief wave of gossip in Konoha. It passed quickly. Everyone was busy with missions and earning money. Who cared about other people's business?
On the moon, Toneri Ōtsutsuki was about to explode with rage.
He previously thought he had time. Hinata wasn't even seventeen; if she got married at nineteen, he could spend two years laying his plans. He never expected Ino to be in such a hurry.
This "rush" had completely disrupted his deployment.
On one hand, there was the ancestral decree not to interfere with the ninja world. On the other, his "fiancée" was about to be stolen. Toneri weighed his options and finally made a decision that went against his ancestors.
Did the Ōtsutsuki clan on the moon not know when Madara Uchiha summoned the Gedo Statue? They knew.
How could they not know when such a massive statue suddenly disappeared? Were they stupid?
The truth was, they were in the middle of a massive war between the main and branch families and had no time to investigate the matter in the ninja world.
Now, there was no branch or main family. Only Toneri was left, and he was born blind. Without the Byakugan, he couldn't use his full power.
Back then, Hamura Ōtsutsuki led his followers to the moon to guard the seal. The moon's environment was too harsh, so some clan members allied with the Hyuga on Earth to build a permanent transportation portal.
The ninja world could use the portal to go to the moon, and likewise, the other side could easily come to the ninja world.
A thousand years had passed. The secret was lost to the Hyuga, but it was still recorded by the Ōtsutsuki on the moon.
Toneri dispatched his puppet, which arrived in the ninja world through the portal.
"What the hell is this?" Madara frowned slightly, seeing an oddly dressed young man suddenly appear before him.
The figure wore ancient robes, with several magatama patterns arranged on his collar. A closer look revealed it was an exquisitely crafted puppet.
"I know you. You are Madara Uchiha," the puppet, which looked just like Toneri, spoke first.
Madara was unfazed. "Many people do now."
"I also know you stole the Ten-Tails' husk from the moon." The puppet's words shocked Madara. Very few people knew about that.
Madara stared at the puppet, his presence overwhelming. "State your purpose in three sentences."
The puppet's face made a smiling motion. "I come from what you call the moon. I want to make a trade."
This answer was unexpected. Madara couldn't help but glance at the sky. There are people on the moon? How did this guy get here?
He pressed, "What trade?"
The puppet said, "I need a pair of Byakugan. A pure pair, one not ruined by the Caged Bird seal."
It took a scroll from its robes and tossed it to Madara without looking.
Madara didn't open it rashly. "What is this?"
"What you need most. It's only part of the deal. When I get the Byakugan, I will find you again."
The puppet self-destructed. Madara tried unsealing the scroll and found a mass of Ten-Tails chakra sealed inside.
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